This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Tonneau covers have been used for a number of years to cover the cargo box of pickup trucks against dirt, debris, and other environmental contaminants and to improve the aesthetic quality thereof. Originally, tonneau covers were designed by upholstery shops and typically made of vinyl covered fabrics or canvas. The material was often doubled over along its edges for added strength and appearance. Male snaps were then attached to the sides of the cargo box of the pickup truck via fasteners, while female snaps were attached along the edges of the cover. Wooden bows were sometimes used to span the cargo box and ensure that the cover remained high enough to drain water. Unfortunately, these covers were sometimes difficult to handle and/or manufacture and occasionally failed to protect the cargo box.
More recently, foldable tonneau covers are often more desirable in that they conveniently cover the bed of the pickup truck for cargo protection. However, when not in use, the foldable tonneau cover may be folded toward the rear of the passenger cabin (or other location). Generally, foldable tonneau covers include a frame network of cross bows, a tarp or covering operably coupled to and spanning the frame network, a latching or clamp system for coupling the frame network to the pickup truck and a means for stowing the clamp system, and a hinge system for hingedly coupling adjacent sections of the foldable tonneau cover. However, the known prior art fails to maximize the ease and effectiveness of foldable tonneau covers and, thus, many foldable tonneau covers suffer from numerous disadvantages.
By way of example, existing clamp systems generally employ an over-center cam lock arrangement, wing nut clamp arrangement, and/or spring biased clamp arrangement to fasten the tonneau cover in place relative to the pickup truck. The clamps typically hook onto the downwardly projecting (metal) flange of the truck bed. Such clamps, in the case of the cam lock arrangement, are adjustable by rotating a threaded cam pivot to permit attachment of the clamps to pickup trucks with differing length downwardly projecting flanges. The other clamping systems can use threaded portions or other telescoping type mechanisms to provide a length adjustment feature.
However, these clamping systems lead to various problems or failures when used with more recent pickup truck bed designs produced by original equipment manufacturers (OEM). For instance, many of the newer sidewall flanges of pickup truck beds can become deformed under the extreme load that can be exerted by clamping systems. In fact, several new vehicles being designed are contemplating changes to the flange material or reducing the flange thickness. The result might be a less structural flange which could be distorted when using typical tonneau clamp designs clamped to such downwardly extending flanges of the truck bed box. Consequently, as a conventional tonneau cover clamp is tightened in place, a user can exert sufficient force that causes the sidewall flange of the pickup truck bed to become permanently deformed.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the relevant art to provide a tonneau cover system capable of overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art. Additionally, there exists a need to provide sufficient retention capability to retain the tonneau cover on the pickup truck bed without causing permanent deformation.